Love's Betrayals (The Extraordinary Life of Amy Winston Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  Domnika smirked. “I would think she would be pleased. She seems to like expensive things that no one else can afford. A valet with his own mansion must be a very rare thing indeed.”

  Amy buried her face into the corner in an attempt to hide her laughter, but the shaking of her shoulders gave her away.

  “Amy, Domnika’s statement was not the least bit amusing. In fact, it bordered on rudeness,” Nicolas chided.

  Amy struggled to get control of her laughter. “I beg to differ, Nicolas. I thought it very funny and if you weren’t so stuffy and proper now, you would have laughed as well. I see I am going to have to revive your sense of humor while I’m here.”

  “Perhaps we can discuss this in private,” he snapped.

  Amy instantly sobered as she realized Nicolas was angry. “If you wish.” She turned to Domnika, taking both the girl’s hands into hers. “I noticed a maze in the garden. If you have not worked it out by the time I arrive, I will have lost all respect for you.”

  Domnika’s eyes narrowed. “This will hardly be a challenge, for I believe you are in for a lengthy lecture.”

  Chapter 3

  Nicolas struggled to begin their private conversation. Amy smiled at his pacing. It was so like Uncle John’s. She glanced at her uncle, standing by the fireplace looking like a very annoyed ghost. Nicolas’ comments had angered him greatly. She had barely recognized her uncle when he returned from three months of haunting Nicolas into doing right by her. His current agitation worried her.

  She turned her attention back to her pompous guardian. “Nicolas, we are old friends, you and I. Stop pacing and say what has you so concerned.”

  Nicolas stopped as commanded and sat down beside her, taking her hand in his. He smiled at her, but it was not particularly a happy smile. “Amy, you know I have been fond of you since you were but a small child.”

  There was a time he would have said ‘love’. She did not miss the reduction to fondness. “Why are you unhappy? Is it that you do not want me here?”

  “No,” he assured her. “I am very glad to see you looking all grown up. Only…”

  “Only what?”

  He frowned and suddenly changed the topic. “Your friend Domnika, does she have family or relatives in town?”

  Amy thought she understood his line of thinking. “Domnika and I are inseparable. I’ll not send her off because she likes to make fun of the absurd.”

  Nicolas frowned. “I would have described it as a penchant for rudeness, which I fear Sicily will find quite intolerable.”

  Amy sighed. “I will try to keep her away from Sicily as much as possible then.”

  “If she had family in London, I think it would be far better if she were to stay with them. You would go as well, of course, and I understand that, but still I think it would be better.”

  “Domnika has no family or friends in London we can impose upon. However, if you find our company such an imposition, then I promise we will only stay a few weeks and then with a letter from you to the manager of the winery, we’ll go on to my estate in Italy.” Amy tried very hard to hide the pain Nicolas’ words had caused.

  “Your estate?” he asked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  “The winery in Italy. It is mine, is it not?”

  Uncle John burst into angry curses and threats, all directed at Nicolas.

  Lucky Nicolas could not hear him.

  “There is a provision for you to have the property in Italy, if that is what you wish. However, I had not considered the matter decided. After all, you might wish to have another property instead, but we will address that when you have reached the age of maturity, which is twenty-one, if I recall.”

  With inhuman force, a book flew across the room and struck Nicolas solidly in the chest.

  Amy jumped up and stared at the book and then at Uncle John in shock.

  “Do not admit you see me,” Uncle John warned. “He will no doubt have you put away in Bedlam, the damnable scoundrel!”

  Amy blinked and returned her focus on Nicolas. “Father Duncan said you put it in my name a year ago, but you would remain guardian until I reached the age of eighteen. That is in six months. It had been my plan to remain here those six months, but given how little my company is wanted, I will gladly go on to my estate now, if you like.”

  “Father Duncan was mistaken.”

  “Didn’t he witness the signing?”

  “He did witness my first attempt to turn the property over to you. Unfortunately, the solicitor I used was not an ethical man and the documents were lost rather than filed. I had new papers drawn, but the age of maturity was changed to twenty-one, I believe.”

  “He’s lying!” Uncle John declared. “I can see it in his eyes. Either the papers are not drawn at all or he is lying about your age, but mark my word, Amy, he is lying.”

  “Well then, if you are not willing to allow me to go to the estate before it becomes mine, I suppose Domnika and I must stay here. It sounds as if you will continue to be my guardian for many long years. I am certain when you explain that to Sicily, she will understand. And since I will not have a winery to focus upon, Domnika and I will need a season or two.”

  “Stop right there,” Nicolas warned her. “I know you all too well, Amy. You no more want a season than you do a canker on your foot. You are merely suggesting it as a means of blackmail, but I tell you now, it will not work. The truth is I cannot afford to give you a season and under no circumstances would I give a season to that rude and coarse young lady that accompanies you. You may have been able to twist Uncle John to your will, but I will not be so easily led.”

  Amy was certain he was led every day by his perfect wife Sicily, only he was too blind to see it. “I was trying to lead you to the logical conclusion. Whether I am of age or not, according to the document you wrote, it makes perfect sense to send Domnika and me to the estate now. You are correct that I do not want a season. You have also made it painfully clear that I am not welcomed here.” She paused and forced her tears away before continuing. She had once loved this man with all her heart, had planned to marry him, and now he treated her like unwanted vermin. “It seems the perfect solution for all involved that Domnika and I go to my eventual home now.” At one time, she would have shared her ideas about improving the winery, but now she kept them to herself.

  Nicolas sighed. “I will consider the possibility. In the meantime, I request that you please keep your friend out of sight and away from Sicily.”

  Chapter 4

  The moment Amy stepped from the library and closed the door behind her, Antonio fell in beside her. His smiling face revived her spirits, enabling her to push away the pain. “Have Gunter and the others come yet?”

  His hand caressed her arm. “They have. Sam is in the garden watching over Domnika, and the others are settling in my house.”

  She looked up at him and smiled through her misery. “Thank you for sharing your home with them. Given the less than warm greeting I have received, I expect theirs would have been worse.”

  “Well, I would gladly welcome you to my house as well, but that would cause a great scandal,” he teased.

  Amy laughed as she pictured Nicolas’ expression if she announced she had found a new place to stay, and it was the home of his valet. “That is a very tempting offer.”

  Antonio looked stunned by her reply and led her into the garden. “Are you not afraid that I would ravish the two of you? My reputation with the ladies is very bad.”

  She had never heard of a person spreading rumors of themselves. “I have no doubt it is, for my uncle said you had the charm of the devil when you were but a boy, and given how fine you’ve grown up, I expect you are impossible for a lady to resist.”

  “And yet you do not seem to have any fear.”

  Amy smiled and waved at Sam. “I am guarded by four who are completely immune to charm.”

  “So your immunity to my charm will be these four old tigers—and what if they are not ab
out? What if you are left to your own passions and will? Can you resist my charms then?”

  “I’ve no idea. To date, except for one kiss I stole from Nicolas when I was fourteen, I’ve had no chance to find out how well I can resist charming men. In truth, you are the first handsome young man that has been within ten feet of me since I left for school.”

  Antonio suddenly looked disturbed by her admission.

  “Now I have shocked you.”

  “In truth, yes. I had not realized the king’s best men could protect their lamb so well.”

  Amy grimaced. “I preferred being called a jewel. Jewels are enduring, lambs eventually get eaten.”

  Antonio replied with a hearty laugh that brought a smile instantly to her face. If he wasn’t so impossibly good looking and her guardian’s valet…

  Amy stared at the maze a moment and then entered. She noticed Antonio held back. “Are you not coming? I promise not to get you lost.”

  He mumbled something that sounded like ‘he was already lost,’ but he would not join her. Instead, Sam loped across the grass, patted Antonio on the back and then followed her inside the maze.

  Upon one choice of three paths, she studied the ground and faced to the left.

  “Are you sure, Lil Bit?” Sam challenged. “The path most taken is usually the best choice.”

  “Yes, but up until now this has been a common pattern used in mazes during the early part of this century. And it has been recently walked upon by a person just about Domnika’s weight.”

  Sam sighed and followed her on her path.

  “She probably made the same assumption as you and then turned around.”

  Turning right and then left, Amy arrived at the center of the maze where Domnika lay on a metal chaise.

  Domnika smiled. “This is a very interesting maze. It has two solutions: one for the ignorant masses and one for the privileged few.” To explain her comment, she led them out and took the common trail, which led to a second center. With Sam’s assistance Amy climbed to the top of the statue in this center and studied the layout of the maze.

  “Are you lost?” Antonio called out from the entrance.

  “Only curious,” she assured him.

  “A pity. If you were lost, I would have to come in and save you.”

  Amy laughed. “Well, come save me then.”

  She then dropped down from her perch and led poor Antonio on a merry hunt. He would call out to her and she would answer, but when he arrived, she would be gone. It was a challenge to elude him because she kept laughing. She finally went to the entrance of the maze and called out, asking Antonio if he were lost.

  A second later, he crashed through the bush and stood before her.

  “That is cheating,” she declared and attempted to put the branches back into place.

  Antonio glared at Sam. “You helped them evade me.”

  Sam held up his hands in protest. “I did nothing but follow. Keep that in mind when you are watching these two. Once they get out of your eyesight, they are the devil to find. And the Lil Miss is more devious than you, Antonio.”

  Antonio gave Amy a nod of approval.

  Domnika laughed. “I imagine even I am more cunning than a simple valet.”

  Amy immediately came to his defense. “He is far from simple, and I’ve yet to see any proof that he’s a valet.”

  Domnika then whispered in her ear. “He doesn’t know they call me Lil Miss and you Lil Bit. We can use it to our advantage.”

  Amy glanced at Antonio as he watched them. His brown eyes sparkled with delight, his dark hair unfashionably long for a servant. He had such confidence and self-worth in his tall, lean body. God, but he was handsome.

  The butler approached with caution and finally motioned for Antonio. After a whispered conference, Antonio returned. “The ladies’ baths await, and your luggage is in freshly aired rooms. Mars requests that you bathe and dress for evening now, for the mistress has returned with guests.”

  Chapter 5

  Amy was in the midst of her bath when a young elegant woman entered the room. Amy could tell by the narrowing of the lady’s eyes and the tightening of her mouth that she did not like what she saw. “Are you Amy?”

  Amy nodded. “Are you Sicily?”

  “I am Lady Sicily,” she replied with regal superiority. “It is proper to address me as ‘your ladyship’.”

  “I know how to address people of title, but such formality is not enforced upon close family and friends. Since you are the Earl of Soundberry’s wife, and I am by blood a Soundberry, that makes us family.”

  Sicily tilted her head in confusion. “I was not aware your bloodline to the Earl was proven. In fact, I was under the impression it was very much in doubt.”

  Amy stared at her. “I was told that you were kind and sweet, so clearly much of what we are told turns out to be inaccurate.”

  Sicily arched her brows. “It is nothing against you personally. As the Earl’s wife, I must see he remains above reproach. This unfortunate burden that his uncle placed upon him requires delicate handling.”

  “I have provided Nicolas my suggestion on how to handle me.” Amy rose from her bath, ignoring Sicily’s rudeness as she stared at Amy’s form. Let her look. She had been told by the seamstress that she had a very pleasing form.

  By the anger in Sicily’s eyes, she gathered Sicily thought so as well.

  Pulling on her robe, Amy left the bathing room and returned to her own rooms where she locked the door behind her, just in case Sicily wished to continue their conversation.

  The door between her room and Domnika’s opened and her friend entered, looking very annoyed. “I was set upon by the Earl’s mother as I bathed. She was remarkably rude.”

  “I am sorry about that. This was not the welcome I expected.”

  “Is it because of me?”

  Amy pulled her friend into her arms. “No! As the Italian boot just informed me, I am an unfortunate burden and must be handled delicately or else I will bring shame upon the family. That is if I really am family. She believes there is great doubt I am a Soundberry at all.”

  Domnika’s eyes darkened with anger. “Do we have to stay here? Why don’t we just go to your estate in Italy and forget these horrid people?”

  “I suggested that to Nicolas and he informed me the age of my maturity was changed to twenty-one.”

  “Even so, if they do not want you here, you could mature with the grapes at your winery.”

  Amy laughed at the image of her hanging upon a vine maturing slowly in the sun. “He said he would consider it. I think he is suffering from a guilty conscience and is uncertain what to do.”

  “I think he is a sniveling coward of a man who does whatever his spoiled witch of a wife wants.”

  Chapter 6

  “What do you think of Amy?” Nicolas asked as Antonio dressed him in his evening wear.

  “She is quite intriguing. It is a shame she was not a boy. She would have made a great general.”

  Nicolas sighed. “Unfortunately, she was sent to that damnable school to be turned into a lady, but Madame Cousec has sorely disappointed me.”

  Antonio grinned. “I believe she can play the lady just as well as any.”

  “Yes, well I rather hoped she would be a lady, not simply play the part of a lady when the whim suits her,” Nicolas snapped.

  “I was under the impression that all women played the part of a lady.”

  “That is only because you are exposed to so few true ladies.”

  “I cannot argue with your conclusion,” Antonio admitted.

  Both men remained silent for several minutes as Antonio buttoned Nicolas’ shirt and tucked in his pants.

  “You consider my wife a true lady, do you not?” Nicolas challenged.

  Antonio smiled. “What a question to ask your valet. Of course, your Lordship. Your lady is the most perfect lady in the world. Why, you tell me so, five times a day.”

  “Leave me, you impertinent cad. Y
ou are damn lucky I put up with you.”

  ***

  Dinner was an unpleasant affair. With both his wife and mother interrogating Amy and her friend, the tension in the room unsettled his stomach and gave him a headache. The moment the last course was removed from the table, the girls declared themselves exhausted from travel and returned upstairs.

  He had presumed the unpleasantness would leave with them, but he soon learned his torture had only begun. Now both women turned their outrage upon him.

  “How could you allow such insolence at your own table?” his mother demanded.

  To be honest, he had thought their questions far more insolent than the answers in reply, but he was not going to say that. Sicily had removed herself from his bed when they argued last week. If he had hope of ever reconciling, he dare not add further fuel to the fire.

  “What is it that you want me to do?” he asked in exasperation.

  “Send them away!” his mother exclaimed. “Before they shame us all, before anyone knows of their existence, send them away!”

  “To where?” he demanded. “Amy is still not of age and I am her guardian. I cannot simply toss her out into the street, Mother. I have a legal responsibility here, not to mention my promise to Uncle John.”

  “Why did she not remain at school where she belonged?” his mother demanded.

  “She ran out of money.”

  “And whose fault was that? Why should we pay the penalty that she is wasteful with her money?”

  Nicolas held his tongue. This was the exact issue that got him in trouble with Sicily a week before.

  “It really doesn’t matter how her money was lost.” He looked at Sicily, then his mother, as he said this. “As her guardian, I am required to care for her until she comes of age.”

  “And when is that?”

  “Twenty-one.”

  The resulting uproar made his head ache. He rose and escaped to his library.

  Why had he told them twenty-one? Why hadn’t he said eighteen? But he knew why. It was something Sicily had taught him: if you are going to lie, then tell the same lie to everyone.